The Ancient Burying Ground of Hartford

Rick Hartford

Lara Blotner, right, smiles at her mother Barbara after taking her picture with the statue of Rev. Samuel Stone in front of the Ancient Burying Ground on Main Street in Hartford before the two caught the bus home to Wethersfield Friday afternoon. Rev. Stone, the co-founder of Hartford, along with Thomas Hooker, negotiated the purchase of Hartford from the Suckiag Indians, according to literature available at the burying ground. It says that tradition has it that Hartford was named for Stone's native Hertford, England. Hartford was named in 1637.

Lara Blotner, right, smiles at her mother Barbara after taking her picture with the statue of Rev. Samuel Stone in front of the Ancient Burying Ground on Main Street in Hartford before the two caught the bus home to Wethersfield Friday afternoon. Rev. Stone, the co-founder of Hartford, along with Thomas Hooker, negotiated the purchase of Hartford from the Suckiag Indians, according to literature available at the burying ground. It says that tradition has it that Hartford was named for Stone's native Hertford, England. Hartford was named in 1637. (Rick Hartford)

The Ancient Burying Ground of Hartford is the oldest historic site in Hartford and the only one surviving from the 1600s. From 1640 -- settlers arrived four years earlier -- until the early 1800s, it was Hartford's primary graveyard.